The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-05-21

night"
A faintness came over me as he
spoke, and I had to sit down. We
were on opposite sides of the stove, and
l saw that he was a man of about
thirty, medium height, slight build and
respectable appearance. There was
nothing about him of the tramp or
tough, and his voice was a pleasant
one. l was certain l had never seen
him before, and I also felt from the
first that there was something wrong
in his coming the way he did. A be-
lated or storm-bound traveller would
have been full Of remarks and ques
tons. and he would not have locked
the doors on us. I looked him over
like one in a dream. 1 felt a great
faintness and a great fear, and yet l
could not help but watch him. He did
not return my gaze. Now and then
his eyes met mine, but for the most
part he was looking carelessly around
the room or at the stovepipe. By and
by it came to me that he was an insane
man, and for half q minute l shut my
eyes and had the hardest kind of a
fight to keep from fainting away.
When I opened them he was regarding
with a cunning leer, and directly
he said:
"You think you will III away from
school, but l shall have my eyes on you
all the timc.- School will now begin"
He went to my desk and rang the
hand bell in a vigorous manner, picked
mp a ruler and book, and then, stand
ing in front of the desk, he said to me:
''Class in photography, come for
ward"
While, as told you, I was terribly
frightened, l had the presence of mind
to understand that l had q lunatic to
deal with, and that he must be humor-
ed. When he had repeated his COM
mand a second time | went forward to
a recitation bench, and he began Civ
ing out words for me to spell. The
''lesson' was not half. over when my
belief in his insanity was confirmed.
After the first few words he began to
pronounce backward. When he gave
the word unicorn he pronounced it
'%cornuni." When l gave it the right
pronunciation and began to spell it in
a proper way, he interrupted me with:
''Stop! The word has been going on
too fast for the last fifty years, and
must stop. or be thrown off its axis.
W. must 90 backward where WI can"
In pursuance Of his theory he pro-
nounced the word 'fulfl'' as "flful,"
and I humored him by spelling words
that way. After about half an hour he
LAID the book down, complimented ME
on my smartness, and during a
recess of five minutes he
walked up and down the floor,
with his head down and his arms be-
hind him, like II in deep thought.
Thus far he had betrayed no temper
nor sign of violence and l began to
breathe easier. l even calculated that
it might be possible to trick him. He
presently called me up to recite in &C.
ography, and here his insanity was
still more apparent. When he asked
me what an island was, and received
the answer as given in the lesson. he
struck the desk with his rule and OK.
claimed:
ut is not so. We have been fools.
An island is a hill two hundred feet
high, and those hypocrites knew it all
the time"
1t was eleven o'clock at night before
he ceased asking questions in geogra-
ply. Then l asked for permission to
to 60 home and get my slate pencil.
He accorded it. but as l reached the
locked door. he called:
mo, you can't 60. You are mi Of
the children who spat on the floor to.
day, and shall keep you here"
From eleven to twelve o'clock I sal
on a chair near the stove, while he
paced up and doyn and muttered and
mumbled in a strange way to himself.
Whenever the fire got low I replenished
it without objections from him, nor did
he seem aware of the storm raging out
side. just after midnight he made me
work examples on the blackboard
for an hour, and once or twice became
very much excited. According to his
theory l must not figure that two and
two made four. but that the total was
nothing. This was setting the world
back. After q rest we had a recitation
in grammar, another in reading, and
at three o'clock he rang the bell, and
calmly observed:
"Childrcn, school Is dismissed. 10
morrow being Saturday, there will BE-
no school,"
Then, without even seeming to be
aware Of my presence, he put on hi